FAM, MEET FAM

Lunath's answer catches her attention and Luna turns back to him in full with wide, rather childlike eyes.

"Yeah, no, that makes sense."

"Luna, please."

Ivor hisses at her nearly morbid curiosity in something that sounds rather traumatic and painful. He tugs on her sleeve but she shrugs him off as if he had never spoken up. All he can do is roll his eyes and watch her bother Lunath.

"I'm not meaning to be rude, it sounds awful and I'm sorry it ever happened but... I've never... Met someone who... You know..."

Despite her obvious interest in the subject, she struggles for words and a way to articulate exactly what she wants to say, also knowing there are things she shouldn't say.

"I'll just leave it there then."

She finally settles on an answer, shooting him an apologetic smile.

Trita finally makes it to the end of the hall and rounds the corner, throwing her back to the wall.

She's too worried for Dolan to completely leave the building, to leave him in here alone with whatever that thing is, but she's also worried, with the talk of Dolan's wife and past, her being there may only mess things up further. There's a cold sweat on the back of her neck but she keeps her ears at alert, listening for anything that may hint that Dolan needs her help, readying her resolve to run back in the room.

Looking out the window, she sees the others, blissfully unaware of what's going on. She wants to shout for them but would that make things worse?

Lunath cocks his head at her, his own curiosity aroused. There’s a question burning on his tongue wanting to get out, but he knows now just isn’t the time.

But still, the sight of her open and earnest gaze directed right at him makes his stomach feel like it’s trying to straight up leave his body through his mouth, and that’s something he has to take a minute to get over.

“I️ just... we have to find it before it can make a mess of things here. And...” Lunath takes a deep breath, steeling himself for something he’s been mulling over ever since they arrived here.

“I’ve gotta tell Dolan. He needs to know, he could probably help. And Luna, did you mean before that Nameless could maybe help us find Lu? Get him back... wherever he belongs?”

“Keiron?” Dolan asks in little more than a whisper. The room feels like it’s starting to spin ever so slightly and tilt itself.

“Of course not,” Shand’s eyes roll dramatically and he starts to move about the room, inspecting books on the shelves and surveying the quality of the curtains as he speaks.

“But I’m here by his request and I️’ve been with him first and then his son for...well, time flies when you’re having fun I️ guess.”

“His... his son?” Dolan feels like he’s stuck, like the air has been sucked out of him as he presses himself further into the corner, away from the imposter moving Shand’s body carefreely around the room.

“Oh, you didn’t know? Goodness, Dolan, you’re clueless about so much these days. Lunath is Keiron’s son, of course. And you’d have picked up on it and how close he and I️ had become if you’d just paid a little more attention. In fact,” Shand turns now to face Dolan with a mocking look on his face.

“I’ve you to thank for all my happy, uninterrupted time with your little charge. And for the record, I️ wanted Lunath first. I️ mean, after all, he is my own flesh and blood. But then he did so utterly disappointed me. And then when I️ caught sight of this model, the power he’s got teeming through these little veins and doesn’t even know it, well, I just had to upgrade and have it all for myself. Hope you don’t mind.”

Dolan’s mind is completely numb and he it takes him nearly a full minute to be able to speak. When he does, his voice is shockingly small and weak. “What is it that you really want?”

Shand laughs with his head thrown back. “Oh, Dolan, so many things I️ want. First of all, I️ want this smoking new ride. For keeps. I mean, all this power in such a pathetic, broken little vessel. By the way, thanks for that, too, Pops. Wouldn’t be here today without you. But really, I think we can agree that the sweet little pirate isn’t ready for or worthy of all this responsibility, the power, the weight. You’re only asking for trouble. Someone with more experience should be at the wheel. Someone like, well, me. Which brings me to my next desire.”

Shand stops now, standing still at the foot of the bed, facing Dolan no more than ten feet away. “I️ want to end this entire family like I should have when I️ started the job 20 years ago.”

Where he sits listless, strapped to the chair with poison in his veins, Shand can see the initial nightmare now in his mind, the animal carcasses strewn across the forest floor, his family bloodied and dead. And he hears his father’s voice, cracked and desperate, and he knows that this must be how it all ends.

Luna sighs with a sort of defeated shrug and slight hang of her head.

“This is his space, he created this. Not to mention he’s very powerful. And he could be considered a spirit himself. All I’m saying is I think he may be out best chance fighting something like this.”

Back in the house, a piece of paper flutters down from the ceiling, landing on the ground in front of Trita. She watches its slow decent warily but eventually decided to pick it up. Her eyes scan over the simple message. In a quick moment, she drops in and rushes back in the hall, but not to the room where “Shand” and Dolan confront each other. She ducks into another room to see Dakara asleep on a bed.

“Hey! Rise and shine!”

She rushes over to the sleeping woman, shaking her a little. When Dakara takes too long to stir, she sits on the edge of the bed, grabbing her arm and slinging it over her own shoulder, hoisting the woman up to drag her out of the building.

Each second Dakara wakes up, she gets easier to carry, but the initial several seconds feels like Trita is carrying a corpse. Eventually, she exits the building with a halfway conscious Dakara leaning against her.

Just as she steps beyond the door frame, an unearthly red fire shoots down from the sky and consumes the top of the building with a clash of sound louder than thunder or canon fire. It doesn’t burn anything away, rather just exists there, never getting any bigger. It doesn’t even feel warm like a fire should.

The group covers their ears at the noise, a ringing sensation all they can hear in the wake of the odd flame.

Luna cringes, hunching over, reaching over and pulling Lunath to hunch over just the same in the nick of time, the fire having flown right over them, some of the flames getting dangerously close. Eidolon had quickly jumped to Ploy defense, pulling her towards him as she tangled her hands in her hair over her ears.

Still unable to hear correctly, Luna slowly turns to look at the building. Her hands drop to her sides as she takes in the sight of the flame rest on the structure. She struggles to catch her breath.

“Nameless…”

Inside the room, Nameless walks from a wall and it ripples as if he had just emerged from a pool of vertical water, his red markings glowing to match the fire outside that obstructs the view from the window.

He smiles at Shand, bowing his head in a greeting.

“Hello, little pup. I was wondering when you would show up. To be honest, I thought I’d at least have a couple of hours to sleep before you did but you had to interrupt my nap. A rather rude, uninvited guest.”

It’s hard to tell what Nameless is thinking, standing there speaking with a tremendous threat so casually. It contradicts his showy entrance.

Lunath watches the fire burn but not consume the building in awe. “Is he in there now? What’s going on in there?”

He tries to ignore the fact that Luna has touched him because there are clearly more important things for them to worry about, but he still tucks it away in his memory to pull out later.

Dakara leans against Trita, head swimming as if she’s just been pulled out of the longest sleep of her life. As she raises her head, she catches sight of a building on fire in front of them- a strange sort of fire.

She looks around to see that she’s somewhere different than she remembers entirely, but just as before, when she looks around, she sees some people missing from their company.

Then she gasps, remembering. “Trita, where are Shand and Dolan? Somethings happening- I️ have to tell them!”

Kvanne and Aleric watch the building go up in flame in horror, and after he initial shock, Kvanne turns to Luna, “My brother and his son are in there..as you seem to have more experience with what is occurring now, is there any reason why we shouldn’t go to their aid?”

The thing that has claimed Shand bares it teeth at Nameless, growls somewhere deep in Shand’s throat threateningly before letting the vicious look melt away and laughing it off. The spirit behind Shand’s face is animated.

“Oh, Dolan, unwise move. You know the fox has no feeling, no sympathy, no attachment to our wonder boy. How am I supposed to keep all this spic and span and shiny and safe now?” Shand holds his hands out, as the spirit clearly refers to Shand himself.

“Something I have observed of our boy, though- it should be of some consolation. Did you know that he can’t die? Can’t be killed. Just another reason why he is the perfect conduit. But of course, that doesn’t mean that he can’t feel pain. Immensely.”

Dolan is struggling with each statement, leaning against he wall now partially for support and partially to put as much distance as he can between him and the thing in his son.

Shand’s eyes flash and a strange smile creeps across his face again before he turns to Nameless. The humor evaporates off his face and his eyes blaze fire, his whole body language arrogant and assured and predatory.

“Now you, Fox. You are a very powerful being, hmm? What do you know of me, then? If only for your sake I️ were a pup. I️ too have seen worlds born and blotted out. I often have participated.”

He takes one step after step slowly and self assuredly toward Nameless and as he does, Shand’s whole body starts to glow a garishly bright yellow green, and his veins pulsate with a deep, tar black even up through his neck.

“You know how unhinged our dear boy is. How much power is all pushed down in here, and it was just ripe for the taking, thanks to you, while he slept like a little babe. But it’s also fortunate that you’re here, because I️ wanted to test this thing out. Are we all so excited to finally see Shand reach his full potential? You’re welcome for being there one to help him do it.”

Deep in that locked away world, Shand feels like a shell, wave after wave of pain coursing through his veins, shaking the foundations of the room to its core, but barely eliciting any response from him anymore.

His body has nothing left, he knows this, but his mind. His mind is churning, screaming louder than his mouth had before, turning itself over and inside out to find a way to prevent this somehow, even from this impossible place.

And then, it hits him. He closes his eyes tight and stops fighting against the exhaustion and the pain. As he lets it roll over him, absorbing it all willingly, his hands start to twitch and his vision starts to fade to a grainy black.

And then, even more quickly than he could have imagined, he is dreaming again. Back in the clearing, back with the wolf standing nearly fifteen paces away, snarling at him.

“Don’t even bother, boy. The deed is practically done. Go back to your front row seat and get comfy. You’ll probably be staying a while.”

“Over my dead body,” Shand spits venemously, and suddenly there is an impossibly loud crack of thunder in the sky, a furious lightning bolt that jumps down from the sky and singes the ground between him and the wolf.

“And that’ll be a little hard, cause in case you forgot, I️ don’t die.”

Up above, Dolan watches the thing in Shand’s body hesitate, an agonizingly slow grimace form over his face, the features take back some familiarity.

“Shand?” Dolan chances to ask, moving toward him ever so slightly, hand reaching out.

Shand’s face turns to him, eyes wide and horrified and pleading- and then, just like that, Shand is gone again. The spirit snarls his face into a cruel laugh and actually bites at Dolan’s hand, teeth snapping in the air before the spirit laughs again.

“So precious, you two. Always dancing around how agonizingly much you actually do care. A little late for that, I suppose. Now. Nameless? Are you ready to dance, dog?”

Trita looks down at Dakara then back up at the building, a bead of sweat dripping down her face as she remembers what the note said but also seeing Dakara’s concern and desire to step in.

“I… Can’t let you do that.”

She hangs her head in defeat, pulling Dakara further away from the fire. As she stumbles over, she looks over and Luna, watching her with a pointed unreadable expression.

The gaze isn’t lost on the other woman.

Luna watches Trita take Dakara away from the building, and before she can even think of responding to Kvanne, the building erupts like the flame has struck down on oil, finally consuming every piece of the inn.

“We need to go get them!”

Lancer, still tipsy, struggles to his feet and smacks Eidolon’s arm as he passes, but Eidolon doesn’t let him get any further, pulling the man back.

Nameless leaps from the flames with Dolan draped across his back, unharmed, gently shaking the man off when he lands in front of the group on the road.

Trita unintentionally hands Dakara off to Alerci and runs over towards Nameless. She leans down and tries to pull Dolan back from the creature who stares down at her. They exchange knowing glances before Nameless looks back up at the large fire, knowing full-well that Shand and the being in him are unharmed.

“You know, wolfie, I’d love to dance. But I don’t know what song we’re dancing to. Anything specific in mind? Better be a good song for two incredibly powerful beings to show off to one another with.”

Nameless takes a quick step away from Dolan and Trita, towards Ploy, Eidolon, Lunath, and Luna, still staring where he knows the thing to be.

“I’m a little offended, though. You didn’t seem too excited to see me at first so you had to tuck tail and hide behind a human. Not a normal human, granted, but a human nevertheless. Still, if you have a dance partner, it’s only fair I have one. I’m already tired from having to clean up after that boy so I’m at a disadvantage to begin with so it wouldn’t be a fair fight, yeah?”

At the taunting, a cold sweat builds on the back of Luna’s neck and her hands get clammy, taking note of Nameless’s slow stalk over towards them. Towards her.

“You don’t understand!” Dakara is yelling and tears are falling down her face now as she refuses to cease her struggle.

Aleric wraps his arms around her protectively, comfortingly, and pulls her in close despite her beating against him. “What’s going on, Dakara?”

“He’s back for Shand!” She says breathlessly, exhausting herself. “And it’s not just him.”

Lunath isn’t sure where he should be watching. Dakara explaining why Shand is still missing from them, Dolan standing in shock, trembling, face toward the flames. Nameless stalking Luna like he intends to eat her alive.

Something about the flames are gnawing at him, sticking in his mind and becoming ever familiar.

“Everyone, take cover here.” Kvanne starts to direct the others to a small, impossibly old looking cottage directly behind them. Most of them suck inside, some of them needing more help than others, but Lunath stands stock still as he watches those flames.

Out of nowhere, suddenly, there is hot breath on the back of his neck and a hissing whisper, “You miss me, old friend?”

Lunath whirls around to see Shand- or something like Shand. He glows impossibly bright, a sickening and sick color, black outlines tracing his veins.

There are storm clouds gathering overhead, and dust swirls in small cyclones in the streets around them.

“You?” Lunath gasps quietly, pushing himself back and falling in the dust.

“Don’t touch him!” Dolan growls, finally overcoming some of his shock to cross the distance and grab Lunath by the arm, pulling him closer, safer.

“Ugh, if that’s not the most precious thing in the world.” The spirit morphs Shand’s face in a delighted squeal. “See, no one can say I’m not thoughtful. You’ll still have one boy left when all this is over. We were, after all, brothers, weren’t we Dolan?”

Dolan seems too frozen to answer, and this version of Shand doesn’t wait for a reply. He passes them with a small push, just two fingers on Dolan’s chest as he walks by, directing his attention toward Nameless and Luna.

“Just remember that you’re the one who decided to bring another innocent human into this,” Shand snickers like a schoolboy at his accentuation of the word.

“You might want to cover sweet Lunath’s eyes,” he calls in a sing-song voice to Dolan, then turns back to Nameless with song gone in his snarling voice. “Because I’m going to slit her throat and eat her alive, just like all good wolves do.”

In the forest, back in the recesses of his mind, Shand watches the wolf circle him menacingly. As he looks down, his veins are still black and caked with something thick and sludgy. Almost as if in a displeased response to this revelation, more lighting falls, this time closer to the wolf, so that it pulls its paws to itself quickly so as not to be burned.

“How little you do know, Skilling.” The wolf clicks its tongue as it chides him. “As big and bad as I️ am, you don’t think I’m the only one lined up to take you for a ride, do you? I’m only test-driving, boy. How fast do you want to go?”

Shand has been feeling it slowly for some time, but all of a sudden the feeling of ire sweeps over him like he’s being razed by wildfire. How dare this animal, this spirit, condescend to him. How dare they underestimate him.

“Fengari.”

Nameless watches Shand with a steady gaze, not even giving her the time to look back at her and see her reaction to all of this.

She’s frozen. Absolutely, completely frozen. It’s not Shand’s threat that causes her to stand like time has stopped. She stopped once she realized where this was going.

What all of this meant… Nameless’s calm demeanor, his brave words… This fight is of no consequence to him directly. Even if it was, he can’t feel the fear and impending doom to comprehend how he should react, but it’s even less of his problem now considering his plan.

Her heart thuds almost audibly in her chest and her knees threaten to collapse.

“We… We can’t. We’ve only tried this once and you know what happened last time. It’s unsustainable.”

Vivid flashbacks of red cross her mind, torn flesh… And not all of was someone else’s pain. She shudders, grinding her teeth and closing her eyes tightly.

“I can’t.”

There are few times in her recent life she remembers feeling truly horrified beyond comprehension. Back then and now. Her entire mind locks up.

“Fengari.”

Nameless turns quickly towards her, baring his fangs, tone demanding, impatient. She opens her eyes to look at him, brow furrowed. There’s already dark circles under her eyes like she’s gained years of stress in mere minutes. But she doesn’t back away from his quick approach. She’s too used to his mannerisms to be thrown back by the outburst.

“This isn’t about you. It’s never about you. Isn’t that what you told me to remind you of ‘next time?’ Not only is Shand in trouble, but so is Lunath and Dolan and Ploy and Ivor. People you know and strangers. If you don’t get over yourself they’re all going to die. Do you want that?”

She doesn’t immediately respond other than grimace at his sharp words, eyes glossing over but no tears fall.

“It’s you or them.”

Her lips quiver as she parts them to try to steady her breathing.

“It always is.”

Finally, she whispers a response. She lifts her head to look deep into Nameless’s eyes in submission. She’s accepted this fate despite herself. She accepted it long ago.

With a nod, Nameless leaps up over her head, turning and landing on her shoulders, looking down at her as his massive form stands on her, his weight visibly pushing her back down a bit. His red markings glow and then burst out into a mass of flame like the one from the building, engulfing the two.

It expands rapidly into a pillar extending to the sky. From the vortex, the familiar large black mage hat flies out, discarded on the ground, edges burned and still red with active flames.

A gust of strong wind and the fire explodes out, all that remains at the center is Luna’s form but different. Her long plum hair is now snow white and wisps about like it has a mind of its own in exactly the same way Nameless’s tail usually does. The notable red markings from the fox’s form are drawn all over her arms and face and her eyes glow a wild red rather than a mysterious blue.

Her eyes land on Shand and an unusual smile graces her lips.

“Well, little wolfie, I’d like to see you try.”

Her voice is not the only one that leaves her mouth as she speaks, but rather it sounds like overlapping audio of both and Nameless at the same time. It’s a little distorted but both distinct voices are clear.

The rest of their group stares in panic outside the window of their shelter but Trita stands somewhere between Dolan, Lunath, and the door. She knew this was going to happen. Nameless even warned her about it. She didn’t know the extent of what his note meant until this moment.

Lunath’s heart falls into the pit of his stomach as he watches Luna struggle and then transform. Her questions make sense now, so much makes sense now.

His eyes dart back and forth between her, the sounds coming from her mouth, and the thing in Shand, the thing he knows as Lu.

Dolan is still holding tightly to him, and Lunath can feel his fingers shaking and his heart racing, thundering in his chest. Dolan looks down at him for the first time, and something in his gaze in different.

He knows, Lunath tells himself. Now he knows everything.

“I’m sorry, for all of this.” Dolan’s jaw is clenched as he looks back up at Shand. “My son, your father...” he hangs his head. “I️ should have known, years ago, it was always working its way toward this.”

Dakara continues struggling against Aleric, yelling Shand’s name, bordering on hysteric. “They’re going to rip each other apart!”

From the forest, Shand can hear Dakara’s voice loudest of all. He remembers that quiet moment, the ever fleeting one, laying in the hammock peacefully with her after the trials of the chaos room.

That memory feels years and years in the past, despite how recent it actually is. The thought of harm coming to her, to his father, to Luna, to anyone, only adds fuel to the already blazing fire. There is a loud, organic boom, a rush of flames bursting and growing and eating. The forest clearing around them is consumed, burning in hot blue, licking flames.

The wolf’s eyes widen in front of him, the yellow orbs in its huge skull reflecting something burning, glowing.

Shand looks down to see that blue pulsating light burst through the blackness of his veins, shattering them and sending pain searing up his arms, and he cries out.

Shand’s possessed form, too, collapses suddenly on its knees and howls, hands pressed to the sides of his head as if his brain has been set on fire. Colors flash through his eyes- yellow, light blue, black- until they return to his normal shade of hazel.

Anticipation and hope hitch in Dolan’s chest as it seems like, perhaps, Shand might be himself once more.

Deep in the forest, the wolf raises its head to the sky and howls, and the earth shakes and the trees bend and the wind batters them and the flames alike.

“You’ll regret this, boy.” The wolf’s serrated voice morphs, decays, until it is wickedly smooth and flowing.

“I️ was going to keep you in one piece, but I️ don’t think that’s what the dragon intends at all.”

“Awh, you look tired.”

It seems as if Luna’s form can barely stay stand as she sways back and forth but it never appears in danger of actually falling over, her red eyes still trained sharply on Shand’s collapsed form.

“The weakest wolves howl the loudest.”

Nameless’s voice seems to overpower Luna’s with each sentence they speak but her softer feminine tone can still be heard, even if buried deep in the distortion.

“Fengari won’t be happy if you don’t even attempt to fight us because then this whole display was pointless and a pointless potential death means something. To a martyr spirit like hers, that is a fate worse than death. You really are cruel, aren’t you?”

Her eyebrow twitches in irritation. She takes a step forward towards the unarmed man on the ground, then another, stalking towards him, but she abruptly stops, her gait shaky, hesitating.

With an audible click of her tongue, she slams her foot back down on the ground taking a step back. There’s some sort of internal struggle behind her eyes and the word “unsustainable” keeps forcefully pushing its way to the front of her mind.

“If you’re going to fight, then fight. If you’re done and it’s Shand in front of me, you better say something and fast. Patience is not a virtue in my eyes.”

She barks down at him, fists clenched at her side. The wind picks up around her and everyone still outside on the road near the scene.

Head hung, face pointing at the ground from his position on his knees, Shand starts to chuckle.

It's a different sound than the one emanated by the spirit before. It is soft, slow, smooth, sibilant. "We would never ever on our life wish to disappoint dear Fengari."

When Shand's head snaps up, his pupils widen, lengthen for a millisecond, his irises becoming speckled with black and red and yellow.

"The wolf was weak, yes." Shand pushes himself up from the ground, brushing off his elbows in a controlled, refined manner that seems utterly strange on him. His voice, too, belongs to something other than himself, and other than the wolf. "He was not up to the task of wielding this weapon. You know how it is, guardian. If the master wants anything done right, he must do it himself."

Shand blinks, and the strangely animalistic eyes flick back for only a moment before disappearing again. Somewhere overhead, gusts of wind beat hard and rhythmically against the buildings and huge, dark shadows in the shape of gigantic wings spread out across the brick facades.

"Don't fret- Fengari, handler- I️ have no intentions of being patient any longer."

Shand feels like he's falling through water, through air, and through water again- miles and miles below the surface separating hope from despair. He falls through molten hot air once more before he hits hard on a painfully unyielding stone surface. All around him is dim and shadowed, small and controlled red flames licking at stone walls, stone ceilings, stone floors. The fall etches agony throughout every bone he has.

This place around him now, it is much like his white room of terror, except much larger, more cavernous, and hewn hopelessly out of solid stone. There is no way in or out that he can see. And in front of him looms the largest creature he has ever laid eyes on.

The dragon's head is ten times bigger than Shand's whole body, and his snake-like eyes, with their tall, shifty pupils, are trained on him, and his small form is reflected in them.

"The, the wolf-" Shand stammers, watching the last of the blue light flicker and fade from his veins. The intense pain returns at the loss of the light and his head feels like it will burst. The hollow pain in his chest is increasing, spreading out over his entire body and he feels utterly powerless, his fury stamped violently out.

"The wolf." The dragon repeats in its slow, slithery voice, laughing deep and rumbling, shaking the flames and the shadows on the cavern walls.

"The wolf did little but pave my path. His personal vendetta was useful, but ultimately of no concern to me. We will aim at greater means together, you and I️. Oh, and if you cease this pointless struggle, I️ promise not to hurt you beyond repair."

Fear flashes across Luna’s face that is clearly not Nameless’s. But as soon as it’s there, it’s gone as she blinks the fear aware. Her expression relaxes into a disturbingly welcoming smile, spreading her arms out like someone greeting a friend with a warm embrace.

“Oh, well, you’re new.”

She chuckles deep in the back of her throat so that it rolls like a growl, unnatural for any human. Dropping her arms, she relaxes her stance.

“And you actually have manners, calling Fengari by her proper name. What a pleasant surprise. I suppose I don’t need to ask why you’re here.”

Her red eyes cruelly dance upon Shand’s form, as if sizing it up with annoying confidence in the form she’s in.

“So, you’re looking for the actual fight, huh? Interesting. I’ve met a cast of new people recently, and most of them want to fight. I don’t understand your world’s obsession with immediate violence…”

The welcoming smile turns into a sharp grin and she motions to herself with a little bow as if this were all a play they were putting on, mocking this new sophisticated act.

“But I’m happy to oblige.”

“Nameless is going too far…”

Ivor frowns, watching out the window from behind everyone else. He’s not worried that the two can’t hold their own in their current state, but he is worried as to what cost holding it together will take.

Ploy’s main focus is on Dolan, Lunath, and Trita still outside on the road, dangerously close to the action. She’s tempted to rush out there and drag all of them into the building but Eidolon’s firm, steady hand on hers keeps her in check, must to her dismay.

“I do just have some questions: Who are you? I like to know my sparring partners.”

Her hair whips around wildly, some white strands flying loose and getting caught in the breeze. The markings glow as she prepares herself for whatever may come next, obviously amused by the twist in possession but on guard, not knowing what the new challenger may bring.

“Are you looking to slit Fengari’s throat and eat her alive too? Because it won’t be easy, I promise. And, besides, are you really looking to do all of that here in front of everyone? Even the no-longer-so-little Lunath? Seems heartless of you, but who am I to judge? I’m just a sociopathic fox, though I’m sure Shand’s mind has already told you all about that by now.”

With an absentminded shrug, she partially turns away from him though her stare is locked and unshakable.

“I believe my goal is to get Shand back from you and keep all of these annoyances safe. That’s what I promised him, anyways. So I have a feeling our goals collide, hm?”

The shell of Shand rolls his neck and it cracks loudly. "When those of power such as ourselves set about a task, is there any way other than violence to achieve our end?"

Shand strolls slowly, in calculated movements, up to Luna, making a point of leaning over so that he can peer right into her eyes. The snake features possess his eyes again, and he opens them wider, peering directly into hers.

"Then again, if there were, I️ doubt it would be as enjoyable."

At this point, Lunath is holding Dolan back. Lu is gone, this much Lunath knows because the atmosphere has changed and a tension deep in Lunath's chest has dissipated. He looks around them to see where the others have gone, and spies the small cottage and their forms lingering around the open, glass-less windows.

"Come on, we need to put some distance..." Lunath tugs at Dolan's sleeve, but doesn't get far. The tension rolls into his gut again with force, as if he's been punched and he swallows hard.

The wing shadows beat again, and gusts of wind whip around the space enclosed by the buildings, nearly knocking Dolan and Lunath down.

"You cannot know me, Fox." The dragon's voice booms, as if it comes from the core of Shand himself instead of his mouth. "In my universe, I️ am a god before whom men and powerful spirits alike tremble. I️ am, as these children have so sweetly also called you, nameless, as I️ am peerless, but I️ am called in the legends of their world by the name of Vrangr."

Shand hisses right into Luna's face, a long, drawn-out hiss that turns into a curdled snarl. "Do you know what that means in the most ancient of languages- dear, sweet, trapped, terrified Fengari? It is the essence of death, the consumption of souls."

Shand pulls back slightly, chuckling lightly to himself and waving his hand at the group gathered in the cottage, in those standing nearer by.

"And thus, as you have said, our goals do. indeed. collide." The dragon seems bored now, striking Shand's fingers together in a snapping motion and lighting small fires, which he then licks to extinguish.

"I️ have been in search of a host that will adequately hold me for some time. As you can imagine, it's not at all becoming that any being should be able to kill death himself. So I️ believe I've finally found the perfect vessel to prevent this... irritation."

Shand's eyes rove over himself, his arms, his torso. "It's a bit more banged up than I'd like normally, but, when the pickings are slim...and of course, naturally you won't be seeing any more of Shand. He can't die, obviously, but I️ have him out of the way somewhere special he won't be escaping from whole. Should by some miracle you ever manage to see him again, it won't be him as he was, by any measure."

Shand sighs deeply, arms on his hips, surveying this reality of Nameless's as if he already owns it. "I️ bore in acquainting myself with you. All that is necessary for you to know is that there is nothing more for you to lose. Therefore, holding out or attempting to protect these children, including the one I️ have claimed, is pointless."

There’s an extreme desire to turn and run to the others deep in her eyes but the force that controls her above her own feelings keeps her rooted, outward expression bored of this new spirit’s high and mighty attitude.

“You were so interesting for about ten seconds until you opened your mouth too much. Maybe I shouldn’t have asked you those questions.”

She yawns, lifting an arm up and then pulling it with the other, stretching out her muscles with a bit of a groan.

“I suppose in any other situation, you’d be right. But I did promise that boy that I’d look out for them and, while I may lack emotion, I have enough sense to see black and white rather than just one or the other. That said, edgy lord of death...”

Holding out a hand towards him, she mimics his hand motion, flicking her own fire to life to mock his foolish display, not willing to be shut down so easily.

“It seems you’ve forgotten there are things worse than death in your long, dull existence. Shall I remind you? I’ve tangled with gods and goddesses before and they’re rarely anything special.”

All the buildings begin to slowly crumble, the debris floating slowly towards the sky, swirling in the center like gravity is being slowly lifted in this dimension. The only safe space that remains with any sense of physics is the cottage and the few pieces of road that the three outside of the cottage stand on.

“An old fantasy town is a boring setting. I much prefer sprawling, endless battlefields, if you don’t mind. And if you’re thinking this will be easy because I have to keep Fengari in mind, then you clearly aren’t as wise as you think. That’s not the nature of our relationship. She’s well aware of that. Why do you think she’s actually afraid? Because of you? Don’t be stupid.”

Though, mostly Nameless, talks the righteous talk about wanting to protect everyone because of a promise he made, there is an instinctual desire to fight this being he’s never seen before that’s challenging him.

“If you kill her, that would actually be doing me a favor because it would make her much more of a ‘willing’ puppet and I could tap into all that fun fire power she has without caution. I can imagine Shand wouldn’t be please with you killing someone with is hands. He seems surprisingly noble for a thug. So you can look forward to hearing him whine wherever it is you’ve trapped him.”

The expansive white area grows darker and darker, creating a foreboding atmosphere, feeling like the end of the world is on its way and that it’s already taken place at the same time.

"Your 'thug' is beyond caring what I️ use his hands to do." Shand snarls, an ear-splitting dragon screel pulsating out from his being as the world starts to spin around them. "He's got more pressing things to worry about."

Dolan is clinging to Lunath now, as they are out in the open and unprotected at the world starts to change form. But when things begin to settle, Dolan looks down at Lunath to confirm his safety and is startled.

A darkness hovers over his face, tinted the slightest of sickly yellows. His upper lip is curled in the beginning of a snarl.

"If there is anything a wolf hates, it's returning to his sloppy leftovers."

Dolan fights the urge to back away from the being inhabiting Lunath.

"Are you... you're..."

"Yes, I'm back. Like I️ would give up on such valuable real estate so easily. A rough day for you, I️ imagine, but. It'll all be over soon."

Lunath's form glances back toward his previous companions, giving a little grin and a wave, as if perhaps they'll recognize him from their fun and games before.

"As you will and wish, fox." Shand's face juts upward toward the sky, where as if at his bidding, the large noon sun overhead turns an inky glowing black. "Do your worst."

Echoing sounds float down to Shand in the caverns, like they're fighting miles and miles of ocean to reach him. He can't hear or see anything clearly except the huge, hulking dragon in front of him.

It approaches him slowly, as if in its enormous form, it needs to figure out how to get closest to him without crushing him like an ant. It huddles down and extends an impossibly sharp talon, running it ever so softly down the length of Shand's cheek, turning his face with it.

"You have no power here." It hisses as it examines him closely, a specimen under a microscope. "But as a precaution against my wolf's failure, I️ feel it best to occupy you while I️'m up top giving the marching orders."

It curls its talon back behind Shand's head, and as he struggles to get away, he notices that suddenly his wrists are bound in chains somehow anchored to each left and right wall.

The dragon abandons his care and delicacy and punctures the back of Shand's neck at the base of his skull. Shand's body shakes and convulses.

"Welcome to the first dreamless sleep of your life. Enjoy the nothingness."

Luna sighs out of her nose, intentionally not looking in the direction of Lunath’s form.

“A dragon and a wolf at once? Pinch me, I must be dreaming. What is a little fox to do in this big scary spirit world?”

Slowly, painstakingly so, she reaches in her pocket and pulls out a knife, twirling it carelessly. It nicks her fingers to high heaven and then she clenches her fist around the blade, blood dripping out of her fist into the nothingness. Far, far below them, the area begins to fill with the red liquid, a slow flood beginning.

“A time-limit is always fun. If you haven’t killed me by the time the blood consumes this dimension, then you lose. I don’t know if its burning properties will kill someone as ‘strong’ as you but it will definitely maim you which is equally amusing.”

Finally, her red eyes flick over to Luanth, throwing the knife so it sticks in the ground by his leg.

“Same goes for you but I know for a fact the blood will kill you. You don’t stand a chance against it, Wolfie.”

A smile creeps on her face and she closes her eyes, clasping her hands in front of her, flinging some of the blood towards Shand in the process. The blood stands his shirt and begins to burn small holes into it like lava.

“With the rules established. Let’s begin, you disgusting monsters.”

The whirlwind of fire is back, surrounding her like an ever-growing hungry cape and the lighting casts crazed dancing shadows on her face and white hair. Veins in her face appear a vivid crimson red around her eyes like a sprawling tattoo, mixing in with the glowing markings she had inherited from Nameless. Reality rumbles and roars as if it is alive as well, being crushed under the intense pressure of power the spirits are displaying.

The smile stays plastered to her pale lips but her eyes are narrowed. A hunter facing another for the same prey.

The cottage roof catches one of the flames spitting off from Luna but the hurricane winds blow it out before it can even begin. If anything, it shows as a reminder of how much danger the rest of the group is still in.

“I have to wonder… If Fengari prefers fire, and who am I to debate with her, and Shand prefers electricity, which little wolf pup down there seemed fine with, what do you prefer, Scales? I can’t wait to see the chaos we create before time runs out.”

Lunath steps back slightly from the knife, eyes darting back and from from it to Nameless to Shand.

Dolan is not remaining as calm. "YOU BASTARD." He's charging for Luna with hellfire in his eyes, but Aleric has predicted his brother's reaction and is suddenly by his side, grabbing fistfuls of Dolan's shirt as he thrashes to get away.

"You can't do anything now, we can't do anything." Aleric repeats, although he can't help but remember a time that such situations were tailor made for their power. But that was such a long time past. Now, they truly are powerless.

"Shut this down!" Dolan is begging now, pleading, his eyes burning with tears that he will do anything to prevent falling. "Nameless!"

Shand glances down at his acid-eaten shirt as if it's of little consequence to him and finds a small spot that is still wet with the blood. He scoops the droplets onto his finger and dramatically places the fingertip on his tongue, closing his mouth around it, savoring the taste.

"Tell Fengari she really should focus more on her nutrition. She tastes a little sour."

As the blood starts to eat away at the ground and every exposed surface, Shand wipes his finger on his pants and turns to Nameless.

"I'm rather fascinated by Skilling's affinity for the lightning, aren't you? I'm sure you don't mind if I️ take it for a spin."

From deep, dark clouds gathering overhead, lightning gathers in and around them, circling and striking and winding together like a tightly teeming ball of venomous snakes.

Shand kneels down and scoops up a palmful of the blood Luna has spilled and turns it about in him hands, molding it in something solid, turning now to Lunath, whose teeth are bared in a snarl, moving slowly in a circular, stalking pattern.

"The irony of this is not lost on me, wolf. Second best spirit in a second best body, belonging to the second best son. What's a poor little pet to do. But I'd rather not have you nipping at my heels right now."

Shand holds the darkened, clotted blood mass up in the air, and a single vein of lightning flashes, cutting the sky in half, connecting with Shand's hand and flickering, pulsating for only a moment before vanishing. It leaves behind the blood mass in Shand's hand- glowing, burning, crackling and sparking like a science experiment gone wrong.

Shand doesn't even look at what he holds before he hurls it with startling power and speed directly at Lunath.

Dreamless Shand is prepared to enter the void. If it means rest and peace and an escape from this suffering and pain. But as he closes his eyes and the talon dug into his neck fade away, he realizes what a tease dreamless sleep was.

As if he could ever not dream.

He stands in the grandest throne room- or at least, what once had been. It is decimated now, blackened and scorched by fire long gone and pillaged, stone sitting cold and dusty.

There is a throne in the center of the room, dilapidated and rusted, the arms barely held to the back of the chair any longer. Beside the throne is a small, metal table that is the only clean and new thing in the room.

On the table is an impossibly large syringe. It looks ceremonial and impossibly old, connected to a huge ornamented vial of a thick, gel-like glowing substance.

Shand inhales deeply, his hands shaking, his lungs burning. He sits upon the throne, closes his eyes, and reaches for the syringe.

Red eyes shift to follow the object with an air of boredom, clearly not intending to move, rather more concerned with hurling scorching flames at the dragon. Her expression also sends the message that Nameless does not care about the harm that Dolan’s sons could come in contact with.

But that’s Nameless. Luna’s form moves anyways and the shock on her face shows that someone is clearly surprised by the motion.

Moving in the mass of fire, she throws her form in front of Lunath, the projectile impacting with her arm, her own blood burning her skin, leaving behind an instant blister.

Multiple distorted screams sound out from her throat. Panting, she staggers away from Lunath’s form, rubbing her arm, some of the flames scorching at Lunath’s clothes but they retreat back, surrounding her like protective wings around an injured bird.

All humor is gone from her face when her eyes snap back to Shand.

“For thinking it’s so sour, you sure do have a fondness for it.”

Smoke rises from her arm but she manages to shake it out. Snapping her fingers, all of the rubble floating above swirls in an intentional pattern, right above Shand like scavenging birds over a corpse. A quick flick of her wrist and they all come hurtling down at him and only him at comet-like speed. They even catch fire from their velocity.

She knows he’ll manage to dodge most of those, but it’s fine. She’s created a trap, granted for everyone involved, but that does include him still. The large stones plummet into the pooling blood, splashing up large waves of the burning liquid all around them. It's a field of supernatural geysers.

A quick wave and thundering sound, she shoots a flaming orb at a wave extremely close to Shand, the heat coming from it alone is indescribably hot as the liquid catches fire like a match. It could easily melt the skin off of a normal human.

“I’m far more interesting than second-best, aren’t I? A bit offended you would even look away from me.”

Suddenly, both sides of this possession seem on the same page with demanding attention. The flames burst out from her like the wings of a phoenix: majestic, untamed, powerful. Her hands curl in the shape of claws as she stares him down with the rage and pain of two separate beings.

Shand merely grunts in reply as he holds his arms out to the side, drawing the bolts of lighting in around him, their electricity cackling and glowing and forming a dome around him.

The fire and debris collide against this protection over him, and Shand smiles wryly from the middle of his yellow, flickering light show.

"Sour and a soft spot for the mortals. Well, well." Shand pushes the lighting aside, leaving the empty floating sphere behind him as he moves away from it.

"You are interesting enough to have earned my attention." Shand glances up into sky full of storm clouds, and the dimension shakes and rumbles and dangerously sharp, huge hail stones begin to plummet to the ground.

"So interesting, in fact, that I️ would love to add to this little duel." Shand reaches under his coat and pulls one of the two curved sickle knives from the sheaths at either hip.

"And christen this vessel, all at the same time." Shand brings the point of the blade up to his own neck and draws it across his throat.

"NO! Shand, don't do that!" Dakara screams out, a strangely knowing warning.

The syringe feels heavy and cold in his hand, and Shand senses time start to slow and grind around him. Dust particles that had been dancing in the light beams from the windows now hang, float at a fraction of the speed down to the floor.

But something beyond this outward compulsion demands panic from him. He wants to wait all day, sit in that chair with the syringe as far from his skin as possible.

But that isn't what's going to get him out of this mess. With a shaky inhale to steel himself, Shand plunges the syringe into his arm, and pushes down the apparatus to drain the vial completely.

The blue gel pushes slowly, painfully into his veins, which start to glow along with the substance. It moves quickly throughout his body, filling him and the room around him in a rapidly growing, pulsating light that-

As the first drop of blood hits the immaterial earth, it's as if a giant star has exploded in their midst. White bright light throws the space into hot nothingness, blinding everyone for a few moments.

When the light subsides, Shand has been blown backward by the blast, is struggling to pick himself up off the ground. He moves strangely, as if his leg is hurt to the point to refusing to work.

His body convulses spastically, betraying that the spirit is still fighting for control, but his eyes are true.

"I️ didn't kill anybody yet, did I️?"

A low growl rolls through Luna’s chest as she watches him carefully, holding her blistering arm with her still profusely bleeding hand but she doesn’t move. Just stares at him with hate from a distance, like she’s stuck in time.

When she speaks, it’s only Nameless’s voice.

“Not yet, you sea-loving idiot.”

The blood is steadily rising, destroying ever part of this wide dimension that it touches and gets dangerous close towards the cottage and the three standing outside of it.

Her head twitches, her neck cracks, and we she opens her mouth, both voices are back, red eyes looking down without turning her head, making the action seem extremely unnatural and painful.

“Time’s running out.”

It bubbles and it boils, some popping and splashing drops of the burning blood around. The roacks that were plunged into are long gone, eaten completely away.

“Are you figuring this out or do you need our help? I am ready to fight to the death.”

Nameless and Luna’s voices constantly fluctuate, each fighting for dominance over the other.

“Or are we acting as a distraction and shield for everyone else? Who knows at this point but this isn’t going to end well for someone.”

Luna’s form shakes her head again, a headache beginning, but both of her hands are too preoccupied to hold her head steady. Still, the fire at her back grows and grows until she nearly eclipses any viewable distance in a certain direction of this dimension. The power grows and swirls, the blood rippling below them.

She wants to keep fighting him, spurred to action by his sudden attack on Lunath, and she’s not convinced this is over, but, with the way he is now, she can’t strike him. That’s Dolan’s son staring at her, another person, afraid and worried.

The sky begins to crack like a mirror and a strange crystal like substance grows down from the ceiling slowly like a forming chandelier. The same substance begins to form on Luna, starting at her fingertips. Her blood drips over it until the crystal covers the wound.

Ivor takes a sharp inhale, catching side of the growing crystals as they begin to consume her arms in a jagged fused mess that turns her limps into blades more than function human appendages.

“Corruption. The dimension is going to shatter soon. It’s burning and shattering. We may not make it out of this.”

He mumbles to himself, backing away from the window, knowing he needs to think of an escape plan but the isolated cottage leaves him little option.

Despite the controlled thrashing, Shand gives Nameless his best ‘oh no you didn’t’ face. “Uh, I’m not the one who suggested knocking me out and leaving the door wide open for all the little beasties to get in, so.”

He tries further to stand up, but between the convulsions of the dragon struggling to be free and the pain shooting from his knee, it seems like moving might not be an option for him.

“I’m trying to keep the slithery one in check here, but I️ don’t know hold long it’ll hold or what else I️ can do.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Shand sees Lunath approaching him quietly from the far right, still in stalking mode.

“Good lord, Lunath. Just, PLEASE. All I️’ve wanted all day is a decent, legitimate nap. Just let me have it. Just let me.”

Lunath lunges at Shand, but Shand sticks his hand out and awkwardly smacks Lunath on the forehead.

The jolt is enough to knock him out of the way, and when he rolls back to an upright position, his face is full of shock.

“Shand? Did you just... what?” Lunath looks down at himself, all traces and feelings of Lu gone.

“That is how bad I️ want my nap, do you all understand what I’m saying to you?”

The dimension spins and crashes and the crystals continue growing all around them and over Luna. It commands Shand’s attention. Really, he thinks, he’s a one trick pony, but so far that trick has worked.

“Hey, just hold on,” he yells to Luna, scooting himself slowly and painfully toward the ever increasing and rising sea of blood. He reaches up, wipes his hand across his neck still wet with blood, and shrugs his shoulders.

“Here goes nothing.”

Shand plunges his hand into the vast ocean of blood, adding his own. In seconds, the sea stops moving, stops its tumultuous roar and freezes in its burning wake.

The sea is calm now, smooth and cold and hard as glass.

“Okay, so what now?” Shand asks, mildly unimpressed as his back arches dramatically. “Scales still wants out.”

As his neck jerks awkwardly from the fighting dragon.

"Not that we're experts on what Scales wants being that this is a world-by-world basis..."

Even though the blood may have stopped, the crystal is relentless, chunks falling from the ceiling and crashing now into the solid surface of the ground, creating mini-craters wherever they land.

"Corruption is inevitable for dimensions with too much connection to the mythical in proportion to their sizes or dimensions that have had too many connections too quickly. Scales may have pushed things over the edge for this one. Olvreign can claim this space."

With a grimace, Luna looks down at her rough, jagged arms nearly unable to move them with how heavy the crystal is over them.

"What does that mean for us, exactly?"

Axel peeks out from the doorframe of the lone cottage but Trita quickly pulls him back in before a falling piece of crystal can take his head clean off.

"If you get stuck inside a reality after Corruption has completely closed it off, you're essentially dead. Olvreign comes into the world and robs you of your emotions and free will, turns you... Turns you into walking crystal pawns."

Luna's form looks down at her transforming arms for emphasis.

"Why are you changing so quickly when the rest of us haven't even started?"

Ploy pushes past the crowd, asking her question while in commute to Lunath's side, Eidolon close behind.

"Fengari and Nameless are more susceptible to Corruption because they've both already experienced it to varying extents. Put them both together as they are now and it only increases their weakness to it. Not to mention possession, as I'm sure we're all aware by now, takes a lot out of the human host. Pair Luna's weakened state with their inability to fight Corruption together and you get that."

Ivor looks up at the quickly changing sky from the window he stands behind, making quick calculations in his head as to how much longer this space has. As if to emphasize his statement, the crystal begins to spread to her face. She hunches over under the weight of it.

"You don't think we could somehow use this to our advantage, do you? No what's happening to possessed Luna but the world? Can we use that against whatever is trying to control Shand? I don't understand how all these possession works but maybe there's something there?"

Trita offers the small idea, hoping someone with more experience can either agree or correct her, not knowing what else to do.

Shand looks thoughtful for a moment before another waves of tremors overtakes him. A huge crystal plummets and nearly spears him like a falling stalactite, but he rolls at just the right time.

“If I can find some way to get the dragon out, like for good, and if we can time it right so that we’re zapping out of here just as this place is imploding, then we’d be home free, yeah?”

Shand watches the chaos all around and grimaces. “Eh, I️ mean, since there are probably more than enough variables in there for you. Assuming that somehow Nameless or I am still able to do the zapping thing after all this. Which seems highly doubtful but I️ don’t want to presume to speak for his illustrious fox-ness.”

Dolan has grabbed Lunath up and is checking him out, looking him up and down to make sure that’s he returned to normal for sure this time.

He tries to move on to Shand, to look at his leg, to try to see if there’s anything he can do, but as Dolan reaches out, Shand struggles to control himself from lunging forward.

“I don’t think that’s the safest thing to be doing just yet.” Shand manages from between gritted teeth.

“And what’s more, Pops, I️ don’t think you’re gonna like what I’m thinking I’m gonna have to do to get this guy out.”

"Are you proposing we create a dimension together, like as a team?"

Only one red eyes is visible, the other has been covered in crystal at this point, and the one that can look shoots a pointed annoyed glare at Shand.

"I can't leave Fengari at the current moment so, whatever you're planning, keep that in mind. I still have my powers but right now we are both experiencing absolute agony beyond your wildest comprehension. Well, maybe not your comprehension but most people's."

Her form lets out a shaky sigh, the puff of air oddly visible as if it were a frigid day but the temperature of this world hasn't changed.

"Regardless of what you decide, she will probably not come out of this unscratched, unfortunately, but the sooner you decide, the more damage control I can play here."

“Yeah, I️ don’t know buddy, I️ feel like I️ may be pretty a little bit close,” Shand grits his teeth, clenching his fists against the dragon and nonetheless working hard to keep his tone light.

“And I️ don’t know what I’m suggesting, I’m just saying that I️ doubt I️ could intentionally zap us anywhere right now, and I’m kinda getting the feeling you’re not fully up for that on your own, either. I️ don’t know how it works, so feel free to freestyle that as needed.”

Almost before he can end his sentence, Shand’s head is thrown backwards and a strange, strangled hybrid between a roar and a growl emanates from his lips, followed by a moan.

“Nameless,” he gasps when he’s recovered enough to speak. His chest is heaving and his forehead is beaded with sweat. A crystal falls and shatters near him, sending shards into his forearms and back.

“I️ think I️ have... have an idea, and you’re going to hate me for it, and you’ll probably kill me if we get out of this alive...”

Shand pauses, half to consider the logical fallacies of that statement concerning his inability to die, and partly to catch his breath as the crystals lodged in his skin start to grow, pushing the lacerations wider and wider.

“You’re just going to have to trust me, unless you’ve got some bright idea you’re keeping to yourself.”

A crystal lodged dangerously near his spine increases almost doubly in size in a moment and Shand’s muscles spasm and his face contorts.

“And you better share with the group if you do, because I’m going to have to pull the trigger on this now, or we die. And I’m pretty sure that’ll include me, too.”

Luna's form stares at him blankly, not following the logic for a couple seconds, seeming just as lost as the rest of the group... But it doesn't last long and a knowing smirk pulls at her lips.

"Oh? Do you want to trade places? You want to face Corruption with Fengari and leave me in your sad shoes?"

The sight of Shand is less than appealing considering the large chunks of crystal, though the state Luna herself is in isn't a great place to be in. Every nerve feels like it's on fire, ripping apart at every seam. It's unbearable. They're both in unbelievable pain and fools, but the idea is...

"It's risky. Get it wrong and we all die, that's no joke there. Get it only slightly wrong and some of us die. Best case scenario is only Fengari dies but the impossibly great ending is we all live. I'm assuming that's what you're going for? God, you are a fool if I've ever seen one but I love the idea. I'm not sure this has been tried before in the history of any world. If we live, imagine the book I could write for other spirits to come."

A soft hum that is mostly Nameless's voice sounds quietly as he thinks it even further through.

"The dragon is attached to your spirit more than your physical body so you will, more than likely, bring it with you into Fengari's body when we swap which will be added pressure for both of you. But, if you think you can handle it... I'm sure Fengari can last enough to see us all safely out... You may be risking our Corruption curse for the rest of your life too which, if you turn to crystal, you won't be lonely. We'd be right behind you. Ya'know what?"

With what looks like an excruciating amount of effort, Luna's arms drop to her sides, unable to bend at the elbows due to the crystallization.

"Let's go, pirate boy. We definitely don't have all day. I already know how to do this so swapping shouldn't be an issue for me. You count yourself down and I'll follow whenever."